The most wonderful time of the year is almost here! As the giant prehistoric sharks and cardio-loving spies of the summer fade into the distance (along with the sweltering heat), fall movie season arrives with a handful of titles we’ll be talking about for the rest of the year, and surely a few into Oscar season.

Along with scarf weather and the changing leaves, fall brings a little something for every movie lover. We’re getting multiple remakes of horror favorites, comic book antiheroes, tear-jerking boy dramas, mad queens, singing queens, moon landings, the final role from an acting legend, and the completed version of Orson Welles’ final, unfinished film. And so much more. Check out the 25 films the ScreenCrush staff seriously can’t wait to put in front of our eye balls in the coming months.

The Nun

We’re suckers for just about anything related to the world of James Wan’s The Conjuring. That includes the upcoming spinoff, The Nun, which explores the backstory of the most chilling part of Wan’s sequel. Taissa Farmiga (sister of Conjuring star Vera!) stars in the latest film in the Warren-verse as a novitiate who teams up with a troubled priest (aren’t they all) to investigate the mysterious suicide of a young Romanian nun. Their mission brings them face-to-face with a demonic nun (so many nuns! It’s like Sister Act, but SPOOKY), whom you’ll remember from the opening sequence in The Conjuring 2. YouTube just yanked an ad for the spinoff for violating its “shocking content” policy – if this movie is half as scary as that ad, we’re in for a terrifying treat. (September 7) – Britt Hayes

Mandy

Confession: I have already seen Panos Cosmatos’ wild follow-up to Beyond the Black Rainbow, starring Nicolas Cage in what is easily the best, most ferocious role of his entire career, as a man pursuing the demented cult who took his wife (Andrea Riseborough, doing her best Tilda Swinton on LSD). Even if you weren’t a fan of Cosmatos’ previous psychedelic effort, you’ll want to make Mandy a priority this fall. It is, essentially, as if the font from the cover of a black metal album came to life; Heavy Metal from the depths of hell. You are not ready. (September 14) – BH

The Predator

There is something poetic about Shane Black being hired to act in the original Predator in the hope that he would rewrite the script for free (he didn’t) and then, 30 years later, returning to put his stamp on a new revival of the concept as the director. This time (the sixth, if you count the movies where the Predator fought the aliens from [checks notes] Aliens) the Predator gets a major upgrade thanks to DNA from other alien species. But don’t count humanity out yet; our heroes include Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Olivia Munn, and… uh… Jacob Tremblay? Oh no, we’re doomed. (September 14) – Matt Singer

The Sisters Brothers

The Sisters brothers are Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly, vigilantes riding through the old West. They’re hired to track down a prospector (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his associate (Riz Ahmed) who have discovered a way to find buried gold deposits. Violence ensues. Phoenix and Reilly are an exciting combination (Gyllenhaal doesn’t hurt either), as is a collaboration between that trio and Jacques Audiard, the director of The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet. The chance to play the role of third Sisters brother, tagging along with Reilly and Phoenix on this misadventure through the frontier, sounds too good to miss. (September 21) – MS

The Old Man and the Gun

In what will supposedly be Robert Redford’s final acting role, the Sundance Kid plays Forrest Tucker, a real-life crook and escape artist whose life was chronicled in a 2003 New Yorker article called “The Old Man & The Gun.” Redford’s a legend and it sounds like a perfect last movie for him (it actually should make a good bookend with Butch & Sundance). The real attraction here, though, is director David Lowery, who’s coming off his mind-blowing indie A Ghost Story and hasn’t made a bad movie yet in four tries. His involvement makes Redford’s farewell required viewing. (September 28) – MS

A Star Is Born

“Do we really need another A Star Is Born,” may be the immediate reaction to yet another remake of the classic Hollywood story. But Lady Gaga in a film about the tumultuous ups and downs of stardom, and in a role previously filled by Janet Gaynor (1937), Judy Garland (1954), and Barbara Streisand (1976), is casting too perfect to dismiss. The third remake of A Star Is Born — technically fourth if you count the unofficial inspiration, What Price Hollywood? — comes from Bradley Cooper in his directorial debut. Rather confidently, Cooper also cast himself as the male lead, an alcoholic country star who discovers Gaga’s aspiring singer Ally; as the classic tragic tale goes, she rises as he plummets. This modern remake has been on and off again for 25 years, almost starring everyone from Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston in 1993, to Tom Cruise and Beyoncé (can you imagine?!). What I’m most looking forward to is Gaga, who co-wrote original music for the film and will finally get to show off her acting chops outside of the campy theatrics of American Horror Story. (October 5) – E. Oliver Whitney

Venom

Okay yes, the trailer for this film, which features Tom Hardy employing perhaps the Tom Hardiest accent of his entire career and spouting lines like “You will be this armless, legless, faceless thing rolling down the street, like a turd in the wind,” was bizarre. But who doesn’t love Hardy in scenery screwing mode — especially when he’s playing a character like Venom, a super(anti)hero with a mouth big and toothy enough to literally devour large portions of the set? Plus the cast is weirdly amazing for a movie based on a character best known for being mean to Spider-Man. Michelle Williams, and Riz Ahmed, and Jenny Slate, and Woody Harrelson?!? There’s a very good chance Venom could be a disaster; there’s zero chance it will be boring. Let’s hope it doesn’t go over like a turd in the wind. (October 5) – MS

Bad Times at the El Royale

If you’ve seen the trailer for Drew Goddard’s (The Cabin in the Woods) latest film, then you hardly need me to explain why Bad Times at the El Royale is one of our most anticipated fall releases. The cast alone is worth the price of admission: Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth, Nick Offerman, Dakota Johnson, Jeff Bridges, and Jim O’Heir (Jerry Gergich! Or Gary? …Gerry?), to name a few. The story is set at the titular hotel – a place with a mysteriously dark past – and follows seven strangers who must each reckon with their own skeletons over the course of one increasingly volatile evening. Oh, and Chris Hemsworth poses like Jesus with his shirt open in the pouring rain. Need I say more? (October 12) – BH

Beautiful Boy

Hello, Academy? Yes, Timothée Chalamet would like his Oscar now. Last year’s young Best Actor nominee is back with a role that’s sure to get him more awards season buzz. In Beautiful Boy, Chalamet plays Nic Sheff, a young man struggling with meth addiction amid a trying relationship with his father (Steve Carell). The film comes from Danish director Felix Van Groeningen (The Broken Circle Breakdown, Belgica), and is adapted from two memoirs written by the real-life son and father. Beyond Chalamet draining my tear ducts once again, I’m looking forward to another dramatic performance from Carell, plus supporting turns from Amy Ryan and Maura Tierney. (October 12) – EOW

First Man

Ryan Gosling reunites with La La Land director Damien Chazelle for a movie that is sadly not about the Baby Goose spreading his love of jazz throughout the cosmos. Instead, First Man is a biopic of Neil Armstrong, NASA astronaut and first man to set foot on the lunar set Stanley Kubrick built for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kidding aside, I’m mighty curious to see how Chazelle fares outside his musical comfort zone. Can he turn a true story whose ending is known by literally everyone in the world into a compelling, suspenseful drama? If he does, it will be a big step for his career. Maybe even a giant leap. (October 12) – MS

The Kindergarten Teacher

Teachers are often influential figures who help us see our potential, but what if they get a little too attached? That’s the case with Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Lisa in The Kindergarten Teacher, Sara Colangelo’s American remake of the 2014 Israeli film of the same name. Once Lisa discovers one of her five-year-old students may be a poetic genius, she becomes all-out obsessed, calling his house, even kidnaping him from school. Creepy! It sounds like a great vehicle for a powerhouse performance from Gyllenhaal, who’s been churning out impressive work on the small screen of late. The film also stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Michael Chernus. (October 12) – EOW

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

In the early 1990s, journalist and biographer Lee Israel was so desperate for money she started writing fake letters and signing them as famous authors. She sold the forgeries to bookstores, and as you can imagine, it didn’t end well and Israel eventually got caught. Now Melissa McCarthy is portraying the writer, shining a little more light on the life of a woman remembered most for her criminal acts. We’ve all enjoyed McCarthy doing whatever it takes to make us laugh, but this will be her first foray into dramatic territory. The film comes from a script co-written by Nicole Holofcener (who has her own film, The Land of Steady Habits, coming this fall as well) and Jeff Whitty (Tony winner for Avenue Q), and is directed by Marielle Heller, her first feature since 2015’s The Diary of a Teenage Girl. The supporting cast also includes Star Wars star Richard E. Grant and Jane Curtin. (October 19) – EOW

Halloween

A few years ago, the idea of yet another Halloween movie wasn’t exactly thrilling — but a new Halloween movie from director David Gordon Green, co-written by Danny McBride (yes, that one) and from the company behind films like Get Out and The Purge series? Sold. A direct sequel to John Carpenter’s classic Halloween, featuring music once again composed by Carpenter himself? Sold again. And then we saw the first trailer, and caught a glimpse of Jamie Lee Curtis back in action – and ready to take revenge on the shape that tormented her 40 years ago, and… yes, OK, when can we buy tickets? We’ll take 10. (October 19) – BH

Bohemian Rhapsody

Before Bryan Singer left Bohemian Rhapsody (or was fired, whatever), pretty much the only major selling point was Rami Malek playing the late, great Eddie Mercury. Although Singer – who’s been confronted with resurfaced claims of sexual misconduct – will retain a directing credit, the Queen biopic was mostly directed (and completed) by Dexter Fletcher. And while we remain skeptical about the film’s candid view of Mercury’s life, there’s no denying that Malek – one of our finest actors – turned in an electrifying performance, as touted in the film’s trailers. Not only does he look like Mercury, but he has that iconic strut and the swagger down, too. Chills. CHILLS. (November 2) – BH

Boy Erased

In one of the fall’s two dramatic Boy movies starring one of Lady Bird’s boyfriends (see Beautiful Boy above), Lucas Hedges plays a gay teenager sent to conversion therapy by his Baptist pastor father (Russell Crowe) and mother (Nicole Kidman). Boy Erased is based on Garrard Connely’s memoir of the same name and is co-written by Connely and Joel Edgerton, who also directs and stars as the head of the conversion program. You’ll see some familiar faces as well, including singer Troye Sivan, Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Xavier Dolan, acting for the first time in a few years. But Hedges is the main pull here: he’s continued to prove himself as one of the most talented young actors of the moment with supporting roles in everything from Manchester by the Sea to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Here he gets to show his strengths in a lead role. (November 2) – EOW

The Other Side of the Wind

Netflix

If you ask me, the most exciting release of the entire fall is a 30-year-old unfinished movie that’s going straight to Netflix. When Orson Welles died, he left behind a project about an aging Hollywood director (played by actual aging Hollywood director, John Huston) called The Other Side of the Wind, which he had filmed for years throughout the 1970s but never completed. Now, more than 30 years after his death, the film has been finished by producer Frank Marshall thanks to financial assistance from Netflix. Hey Netflix! Think you could fund a search to find the missing footage from the director’s cut of The Magnificent Ambersons next? That would be terrific. (November 2) – MS

Suspiria

The great Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) revisits Dario Argento’s horror masterwork, with a cast that includes Tilda Swinton and… do you actually need other names? OK, fine: Dakota Johnson, Mia Goth, Chloe Grace Moretz, and original Suspiria star Jessica Harper. Despite also being an avant garde horror thriller set at a European dance academy and directed by an Italian filmmaker, Guadagnino’s Suspiria is — perhaps most interestingly — not a remake, but a continuation, or extension of Argento’s piece. The trailer alone sets an ominous, seductively eerie tone, and that scene of a dancer straddle-crawling her way up a door frame must be the biggest of Moods from what’s to come. (November 2) – BH

The Girl In the Spider’s Web

If you can accept that we were never going to get a David Fincher-directed Dragon Tattoo sequel (I know, life is rough), then a soft reboot/sequel from the guy behind Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe is a pretty solid consolation prize. Given a few of the more questionable moments involving women in Fede Alvarez’s two previous films, The Girl in the Spider’s Web might also serve as a badass apology of sorts. Claire Foy is once again ditching her stuffy Crown, this time taking on literary hero Lisbeth Salander – the punky, pierced, and tattooed hacker who has a bone to pick with some of the scummiest men on earth. Lisbeth’s… intense… approach to feminine vengeance has the potential to be wildly cathartic in the #MeToo era, and with a cast that includes Lakeith Stanfield and Blade Runner 2049 fave Sylvia Hoeks, we’re more than willing to overlook the distinct lack of Fincher. (November 9) – BH

Overlord

Stealth Cloverfield tie-in or no, Overlord looks rad as hell. The latest production from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot pits American soldiers against Nazis – and the monstrous results of their experiments – on the eve of D-Day during World War II. Though it seems like it couldn’t get much worse than that inherently intense and horrific setting, the trailer for Overlord assures you that, yes, things can and will get a f—k of a lot worse for all involved, while giving off some distinct 28 Days Later vibes. Starring Wyatt Russell, Bokeem Woodbine, Pilou Asbæk, and Jovan Adepo, Overlord should offer a welcome distraction from all that stuffy awards season bait. (November 9) – BH

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Annapurna/Netflix

Joel and Ethan Coen went to Netflix with the intention of making their first TV series there; an anthology of stories set in the Old West. Then, the Coens decided to scrap the series and turn the material into an anthology film. TV show, movie; it makes no difference. All that matters is the Coens made a new thing (a Western!) with Tim Blake Nelson, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson, Zoe Kazan, Stephen Root, James Franco, and Tom Waits. That’s a must-see in any medium. (November 16) – MS

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

The first Fantastic Beasts was no Harry Potter, but it did offer a chance to revisit the magic of J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world. The sequel, also directed by Potter vetDavid Yates and penned by Rowling, sinks its teeth into the history of that fictional universe a little more, exploring backstories and tales we’ve long heard about. Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander is back with his cute niffler pals, and this time he’s hunting down Grindelwald (unfortunately not played by Colin Farrell) as the escaped dark wizard attempts to build an army of pure-bloods. There’s plenty to look forward to, even for the casual Potter fan: we’ll get to meet meet young hot Dumbledore (Jude Law), Zoe Kravitz’s Leta Lestrange, and Nicolas Flamel, the creator of the Philosopher’s (or Sorcerer’s) Stone, as well as hang out with the returning cast of the first film. (November 16) – EOW

Widows

New Steve McQueen co-written by Gillian Flynn with four female leads? You had me at new Steve McQueen. After directing some commercials, a Kanye West video, and developing a TV series, the Oscar-winner is back with his first feature since 12 Years a Slave. Co-written by McQueen and the Sharp Objects author, Widows is a modern adaptation of the British TV series about four women whose criminal husbands are killed during an unfinished robbery. The widows decide to pick up where the men left off and claim the money for themselves. If a McQueen heist thriller isn’t enough to pique your interest, the excellent cast surely will: Viola Davis, Cynthia Erivo, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez, Carrie Coon, and Jacki Weaver. And those are just the women! Widows also stars Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya, Liam Neeson, Robert Duvall, and Atlanta‘s Brian Tyree Henry. (November 16) – EOW

Creed II

For his first big role after Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan is lacing up his gloves and returning to the ring as Adonis Creed, rising boxing star and son of the late world champ Apollo Creed. Apollo’s not around because he was killed in the ring by a brutal Russian boxer, Ivan Drago. In Creed II, Adonis looks to settle that old score by fighting Drago’s kid. He will need help; fortunately his dad’s best friend Rocky Balboa looks to have recovered from his fight with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the last movie. Donnie and Rock won’t have Ryan Coogler in their corner though; Coogler didn’t return to direct this sequel, passing on the franchise to Steven Caple Jr. (November 21) – MS

The Favourite

If you dig Yorgos Lanthimos’ work but are longing for something a little less horrifically devastating than his last film, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, his next may be right up your alley. The latest from the Greek filmmaker (who’s just directing this time) is an 18th century period piece based on the real-life Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough, detailing her influential relationship with Queen Anne of Great Britian. Olivia Colman plays the mad Queen; Rachel Weisz, reuniting with her Lobster director, is Lady Sarah; and Emma Stone plays the Duchess’ cousin Abigail, who becomes the Queen’s new companion. With three superb leads, and a supporting cast including Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn, and Mark Gatiss, the whole thing looks like a delightfully bizarre, rollicking affair you won’t want to miss. (November 23) – EOW

If Beale Street Could Talk

How does one follow a film as celebrated and perfect as Moonlight? For Barry Jenkins, the answer is tackling a James Baldwin novel, and most notably, the first English-language film adaptation of the prolific author’s work. If Beale Street Could Talk, based on Baldwin’s 1974 novel of the same name, tells the story of a young pregnant woman named Tish (newcomer KiKi Layne) whose fiancé Fonny (Stephan James) has just been arrested and falsely accused of rape. Tish and her family — her mother, a pivotal character in the book, is played by Regina King — rush to get the charges dropped and Fonny freed from jail before the baby arrives, but with a racist white cop at the center, things prove challenging. If anyone’s going to turn Baldwin’s novel into a film, and bring the urgent, still-timely racial politics, Harlem culture, and throbbing passion of the text to the screen, I trust Jenkins to get the job done. It doesn’t hurt that the film is shot by Moonlight cinematographer James Laxton. Consider this one of my most anticipated films of 2018. (November 30) – EOW